Based on a True Story

Compare history with Hollywood's version of The Big Short.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/dcfa9136-2431-445f-93e2-a30f53a8487e Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/36 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You've seen the movie. But how much of Titanic was true, and how much of it was made up for the film? Let's compare history with Hollywood's blockbuster film, Titanic.Links Titanic movie Last Dinner On the Titanic: Menus and Recipes from the Great Liner Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/c4eadab1-ac8f-468e-8540-34466835a068 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/35 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

He lived through unthinkable measures. At a time when millions were slaughtered, including his family and friends, Wladyslaw Szpilman managed to survive the Holocaust. He was The Pianist, and in 2003 there was a movie starring Adrian Brody telling his incredible story.But how much of it is true? Let's compare history with Hollywood's version of The Pianist.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/b16bd10c-386d-42ff-bc79-9e05ea46b518 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/34 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we'll do something a bit different as we look ahead. Instead of learning about a movie that's already been released, we'll look ahead to a movie coming out this next weekend.Hidden Figures tells the remarkable story of women at NASA who worked as Computers. Before you go see the movie in theaters, learn more about the women so you'll be able to tell just how accurate the movie is on your own.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/60669fb9-4cd7-4253-a4b6-3b0fbde4c9db Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/33 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On October 11th, 1994, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced their Nobel prize winners. Three brilliant scientists jointly won the coveted award. They were Professor John C. Harsanyi from the University of California, Berkley, Dr. John F. Nash from Princeton University and Professor Dr. Reinhard Selten, from the University of Bonn in Bonn, Germany.Less than a month later, on November 13th, 1994, a writer for The New York Times wrote a great article called The Lost Years of a Nobel Laureate which told the story of one of those men, Dr. John Nash. The author of that article was Sylvia Nasar.Sylvia, who was a staff writer at the Times when she wrote the article, would go on to expand on the article. In 1998, her book called A Beautiful Mind was released to critical acclaim. It would go on to be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and win the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography.Soon after, muti-award winning Hollywood producer Brian Grazer read an excerpt from Sylvia's book in the Vanity Fair magazine. Brian is the co-founder of Imagine Entertainment, a company he co-founded with director Ron Howard in 1986. Brian's films, which include some we've covered on the podcast such as Apollo 13 and Frost/Nixon, have won 43 Academy Awards and 131 Emmys. Needless to say, he knows a good story when he sees one. And he wasted no time in purchasing the film rights for Sylvia's book.On December 13th, 2001, the film A Beautiful Mind premiered to a limited audience before it's nation-wide release on January 4th, 2002. With a budget of about $58 million, A Beautiful Mind had an all-star cast led by Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Paul Bettany and more. All under the helm of the talented Ron Howard as director.The film was a smash hit as it earned over $317 million worldwide on its way to winning the coveted Oscar for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.Despite such great numbers, many critics said the filmmakers changed around many of the key details, and omitted many more. Are they correct? Let's find out as we dive into the world of the Nobel Laureate John Forbes Nash, Jr., as we learn the true story behind A Beautiful Mind.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/6b4526c1-0d27-42fb-b96b-20279540154e Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/32 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With the Christmas season upon us, I wanted to cover a film that'd help represent the Christmas spirit.In 2005, French filmmaker Christian Carion released his second full-length feature film. Joyeux Noël, which translated to English means Merry Christmas, was released in France on November 9th, 2005, and only ended up making about $3.5 million at the box office. That's significantly less than the $22 million it cost to make.The film wasn't released in the United States until June of 2006, which might be why it only made about $1 million in the U.S. A film about Christmas released in June doesn't set it up for success.Still, despite not winning at the box office the film won the hearts of critics. In 2006, Joyeux Noël was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film of the Year at the Academy Awards, the Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes and the Best Film not in the English Language at the BAFTA Awards.The story behind the film is of the 1914 Christmas truce, an event that took place as World War I was just getting started, and almost ended it before it began. Seemingly out of nowhere, enemy soldiers decided to lay down their arms and instead spent December 25th, 1914, by singing Christmas songs and exchanging gifts. What more could highlight the Christmas spirit than soldiers deciding to stop one of the bloodiest wars in human history?Even if it was just for a short time.At the end of Joyeux Noël, there's a bit of text on the screen that says the characters are fictional. But it's director, Christian Carion, claims the film is historically accurate. So how accurate is it?Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/13dbc4ab-6d31-4b3e-a602-3a1edb47291a Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/31 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tom McCarthy started his acting career with a short movie in 1989 called Roast Suckling. Although that's probably not something most have seen, he's one of those actors that you'd recognize when you see him. Probably because he's been in a lot of movies and TV shows you've seen.He played a background character in Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts' 1997 thriller Conspiracy Theory.In 2000, Tom has a recurring role on Boston Public as the character Kevin Riley. After more background character roles in movies such as Syriana and the Oscar nominated Flags of Our Fathers, Tom again had a recurring role on a TV show in 2008, this time for The Wire.Some of Tom's more recent characters were Gordon, the loveable doctor who plays the new husband of John Cusack's ex-wife in the disaster movie 2012. Or as Dr. Bob in the comedy Little Fockers.But Tom's career extends way beyond acting.In 2009, Tom worked with Pete Docter and Bob Peterson to write the Pixar movie Up. In 2011, he directed the pilot episode for a little show on HBO called Game of Thrones. Unfortunately, HBO didn't like how it turned out, so they had to reshoot it.Tom's career hit new heights when he wrote and directed the film that won the Best Picture at the Academy Awards.Eight movies were nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture in 2016. While the writers for films like Room and Brooklyn were inspired by things that happened in history, their stories aren't based on those events. Still, that leaves four movies that were based on a true story.They are The Revenant, which was a movie we already learned about in the first episode, The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, and last but not least, the movie that is the topic of our story today.Spotlight ended up beating out the other seven nominees as it won two of the seven Oscars it was nominated for, including the coveted Best Picture and Best Writing, Original Screenplay for Tom McCarthy and his writing partner, Josh Singer.Although Spotlight tells the story of corruption and cover-ups in the Catholic Church, Josh Singer explained in an interview with Creative Screenwriting that was secondary to the movie's plot. Josh said, "This story isn’t about exposing the Catholic Church. We were not on some mission to rattle people’s faith. In fact, Tom came from a Catholic family. The motive was to tell the story accurately while showing the power of the newsroom—something that’s largely disappeared today. This story is important. Journalism is important, and there is a deeper message in the story."So if the cover-up was secondary to the movie's story, how much of the film was true?Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/f6dfccac-8cb9-404b-bc42-e108ee9b879b Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/30 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There are few movies that stand near the top of the all-time list for income. One of those movies is The Sound of Music.With a budget of about $8 million when it was produced in the 1960s, it was one of the bigger budget films when it was made. That $8 million is about $62 million in today's United States dollars.When it was released in 1965, it raked in over 35 times that amount, about $286 million on its way to an impressive five Academy Awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture in 1966. That equates to about $2.1 billion dollars today. Yes, that's billion with a "b". And since then it's made a couple hundred million more. So when you adjust for inflation, as of this writing, that ranks The Sound of Music as the fifth-highest grossing film of all time. That's behind Gone with the Wind at number one, followed by Avatar, Star Wars, and Titanic.In a 2008 interview, the youngest of the von Trapp family portrayed in the film, Johannes von Trapp, said, "The Sound of Music was great, but it was an American version of my family’s life. It wasn’t what we were."So if the movie isn't who they were, that begs the question: who were the real von Trapp family?Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/954c855d-47b5-436b-9e55-ff5ddfb8f1e8 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/29 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Between 2004 and 2016, Paul Greengrass directed a total of six movies. Four of those have Matt Damon in them. Three of them are about the fictitious Jason Bourne character. Two of them are based on a true story.Today, we're going to be looking at one of those movies.In an effort to make 2013's Captain Phillips as authentic as possible, Paul Greengrass kept two groups of actors separate. One group had Tom Hanks playing the man the movie is named after, Captain Rich Phillips. In the other group were the actors portraying the Somali pirates.These two groups of actors never met until their roles on set together. In an interview after the film was released, Tom Hanks explained, "We were kept separate for all that time. We could see guys that looked like they were Somalis but we didn't know who was who until they came roaring into us the day that we were shooting the scene where they were taking over the bridge of the ship."Despite attempts at making the film as realistic as possible by doing things like keeping the actors separate, after Captain Phillips was released, many of the crewmen claimed the movie didn't accurately depict what happened.With a budget of $55 million, Captain Phillips made about half that on opening weekend on its way to a profitable $107 million in theaters. It was also nominated for six Oscars, and while it didn't end up winning at the Academy Awards, much of the movie's success can be attributed to the amazingly intense way the film portrays the situation. It seems so real. But is it?Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/b6897ca7-3043-477e-93f2-4b2c774dfc2c Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/28 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With the Thanksgiving season upon us, I thought it'd be a great opportunity to travel back in time to the days of Colonial America. Then I realized there's not really a lot of movies about the actual Thanksgiving story. So I decided to go with something that, although not about the Thanksgiving story itself, could transport us back to those days. And it's also a great opportunity to do something we haven't tackled yet on the podcast, a Disney animation.In the mid-1990s, the animation team at Disney was on a roll. Tapping into their pool of talent, Aladdin animator Eric Goldberg and The Rescuers Down Under director Mike Gabriel teamed up to take on a new challenge: adapting a true story for the big screen in Pocahontas.Timed to release on exactly 400 years after the real Pocahontas was born, Disney released their own musical interpretation of the story on June 16th, 1995. The movie boasted an amazing all-star cast including Irene Bedard, Mel Gibson, and Christian Bale, just to name a few.With a budget at about $55 million to make, it was a smash hit in the box office as it raked in over half that in the opening weekend. In all, it made over $140 million in theaters. At the time, that put it at #8 on the all-time Disney list of box office results. Of course, as time goes on its dropped quite a bit—as of recording this, thanks to Disney's acquisition of Pixar and Star Wars, Pocahontas is #65.While it was certainly a box office success, Pocahontas was severely criticized by a lot of historians for telling a tale that most people now believe to be a true story when, in fact, it was almost entirely inaccurate with what actually happened.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/727a37fb-bf8f-4590-a16c-4251510dcf65 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/27 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nechama Tec was born in Lublin, Poland in 1931. When she was eight years old, her life would forever change as Nazis invaded her hometown. As a Polish Jew, she survived the Holocaust thanks to Polish Catholics who hid her from the Nazis.Over forty years later, in the 1980s, Nechama started doing research on the events that she had lived through. Her book, When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland was published in 1986. It was while Nechama was researching for this book that she called up a man named Tuvia Bielski, who was living in Brooklyn at the time."He was very friendly and wanted to know what book I'm writing," Nechama recalled in an interview with NPR. After explaining that she was researching the story of a man who had helped over 300 Jews escape the Nazis, Tuvia replied: "Big deal. When you come to me, I will show you how people saved more than a thousand."And that's how Nechama found the topic for her next book, which would be published in 1993 titled Defiance: The Bielski Partisans.Nechama's book about the Bielski brothers never reached #1 on the New York Times Best-Seller's List, but it won numerous awards, including the International Anne Frank Special Recognition Prize.One of Edward Zwick's friends found the book and was so fascinated by it that he passed it onto the director. Initially, Edward was hesitant of doing yet another Holocaust movie, but he was so enthralled by the story that he couldn't resist. In 1999, Edward acquired the film rights and started work on the film.It took nearly a decade before it was ready to start shooting. And when it did, they had to act fast. Actor Daniel Craig was cast for the lead role in May of 2007, but they had to start shooting right away so he could move onto another obligation as James Bond in Quantum of Solace. So shooting for Defiance began in September of 2007 and wrapped up in just three months.On January 19th, 2009, Defiance was released to underwhelming box office numbers. With a budget of $32 million, the film would go on to only make back about $28 million in theaters. After Nechama saw the film, she was shocked by some of the changes Hollywood made.Let's find out just how much changed as we learn the true story behind Defiance.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/517162cf-8e8b-4016-8e66-07a2df16f818 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/26 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The latest in the line of collaborations between actor Leonardo DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese is 2013's The Wolf of Wall Street. It received positive reviews, and also held the honor of topping the most-pirated films list of 2014. That's according to copyright tracking firm Excipio, which puts out a list of the most pirated films each year. Their report indicated The Wolf of Wall Street was the most-pirated in 2014 with over 30 million illegal downloads.But that didn't stop The Wolf of Wall Street from raking in almost $400 million, about four times what it cost to make, and making it Martin Scorsese's highest-grossing film.Oh, and as a fun little fact, the movie also had variations on the F-word being said 569 times. Since the film clocks in at an even 180 minutes, or exactly three hours, that comes to 3.16 uses per minute.That's the most uses in a mainstream film, assuming you don't count 2014's Swearnet: The Movie and a documentary dedicated to the word. And the swearing is just part of it. The film was on the path to an NC-17 rating thanks to rampent use of explicit sex, drugs and, of course, the swearing. But that wouldn't work in theaters, so Scorsese agreed to remove a few scenes filled with sex and nudity so it could get an R rating.If you've seen the movie, you'll know how crazy the story is. Surely most of that was added for the big screen. Or was it?Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/ff3c5b0e-ab17-4285-a2ff-c3ce9e7abd1b Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/25 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Happy Halloween! I wanted to do something special this week. I thought it'd be fun to cover the true story behind something scary. But after starting to look for some movies to fit the bill, I quickly realized most of the scary movies that claim to be based on a true story also require a belief in something extraordinary—something supernatural.Some stories are simply strange, and we don't know the truth. The only thing we do know is what those who lived through the events claim. With that in mind, and in the spirit of Halloween, let's hear the tale of those who were involved and see how it compares to Hollywood's reinterpretation of The Conjuring.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/7039fdcd-c1a0-4f1e-8f55-76341af8a1a9 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/24 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Few can debate the huge impact Steve Jobs had on the world. So it's no wonder that after Steve Jobs passed away in 2011, there was in influx of news and media surrounding the life of the outspoken Apple co-founder and CEO.If you listened to episode on The Social Network, you'll already know how Aaron Sorkin dropped the true story for a good story. So how did he do for his movie about Apple's famous CEO and co-founder? Let's find out as we compare Hollywood with history for 2015's Steve Jobs.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/10b68310-69ae-4aa3-a633-0539278ef0f4 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/23 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You've probably heard of the song Amazing Grace. It's one of those Christian hymns that just about everyone has heard, or at least heard of, at some point. It was first published in 1779 by John Newton.While you may think the named after John's song is about John's life, it's not. Instead it's about a man who was perhaps the first to be influenced by John's moving life story and the song. It's about a man who was perhaps the single most influential man in the abolishment of slavery in Britain. Let's learn the true story behind the movie Amazing Grace.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/2bafe484-1bfc-4cb4-9d97-8fa9884744d7 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/22 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In a retelling of one of the greatest moments in U.S. Coast Guard's history, The Finest Hours is a feel-good movie of true heroism. When sitting down to write the film, screenwriters Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson had the chance to do something not everyone does: interview the actual people who lived the story.Since they had the chance to talk to the survivors, does that mean the story was historically accurate? Let's find out as we learn about the true story of The Finest Hours.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/564b2f6a-1ddc-4a7c-a8c2-4bbc66d0078c Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/21 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Elizabeth Short's murder was considered to be the crime of the century. And it's a mystery that many are still fascinated by, decades later. So when Brian De Palma directed a 2006 movie of the same name, many moviegoers wanted to see a true crime story of The Black Dahlia.They were sorely disappointed. Let's dive into the real story of The Black Dahlia and find out just how accurate the movie was.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/ad3b4776-6d5d-4602-9a24-deaed455344a Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/20 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The movie Deepwater Horizon comes out on this Friday. So again we're going to take some time to look ahead at a movie. Before you go see the movie in theaters, let's take a few minutes to learn what happened before, during, and after the disaster so you'll know just how accurate Hollywood was during its retelling.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/ca08a419-7062-466f-8cc1-0e26faae9865 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/19 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Despite having an all-star cast and being based on a true story, most of the characters in the film didn't actually exist. Instead, Hollywood opted to merge together multiple people into a single character to help push the story forward while not having to deal with an ensemble cast in the hundreds.As I'm sure you can guess, this also forced them to change the story around from the way things really happened.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/711a0d24-bbfb-482e-9947-f2396710e48d Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/18 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Even though Argo starts off with text that says it's based on a true story, the movie was actually based primarily on two sources: a book by Tony Mendez, the CIA agent Ben Affleck plays, and a 2007 article on Wired by Joshuah Bearman.So how much of Argo is true? And how much of it was fictionalized for the film?Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/f6ae86e0-8a64-45d0-a2b3-c4931c3512cc Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/17 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pawn Sacrifice tells the story of one of the greatest chess players of all time—Bobby Fischer. How do you make the game of chess into an interesting story? With Bobby Fischer's life, you don't need to stretch it too far.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/c9febc84-e115-42ec-aecb-c9313316ef43 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/16 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ron Howard and Tom Hanks teamed up for their second of now four movies the duo have worked on together in 1995 with Apollo 13.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/79646d4b-573a-4e00-8213-783f2e402dd7 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/15 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lili Isle Elvenes, better known as Lili Elbe, was one of the first known recipients of a gender reassignment surgery. In 2015, her life was brought to the forefront of many people's minds when Alicia Vikander won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in the film. Despite the film's success at the Academy Awards, there was a fair share of inaccuracies in the story on the big screen.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/b49c2cef-4d2e-45ca-8239-c91257753244 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/14 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Social Network tells the story behind one of the world's most popular websites, Facebook. It's got everything that makes for a great story--there's greed, corruption, lawsuits and Justin Timberlake. But how true is the depiction of the site's early days? Let's find out.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/4e34d776-989a-493f-85e3-8123225ddec3 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/13 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Anthropoid hits theaters on Friday. It's the story of how the Czechoslovakian government, forced into exile after the Germans occupied their homeland in 1938, tried to fight back and take down Reinhard Heydrich at the height of World War II. Learn the true story before you see the movie.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/352afdb3-6d6f-4e8c-9cd8-5d96d6406b22 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/12 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Will Smith would say Ali was the film he was most proud of as an actor. And it tells a very important story of a true legend: Muhammad Ali.Although it wasn't a box office success by the numbers, Will Smith and Jon Voight would go on to be nominated for their own Academy Awards for the film for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/29246d58-9f5c-440b-ba87-27e1c2aec77a Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/11 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pain & Gain is the first comedy we've covered here on the show. It was also the first comedy for Michael Bay since another Miami-based story, Bad Boys II in 2003. Another first for Pain & Gain is that, unlike the Transformer series, it is Michael Bay's first movie with a shred of truth. But the real story is anything but a comedy.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/cbc78b1c-aebd-4c30-8c40-097fdcd7081f Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/10 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In 2007, director David Fincher helmed the movie simply entitled, Zodiac, which tells the thrilling story of a rash of killings in the 1960s and 70s.Despite the film's failure at the box office, the subject is one that seems to pique the public's interest whenever it's mentioned.In fact, it was just a few months ago during this year's presidential race in the United States when an internet meme led to a conspiracy that Republican Senator Ted Cruz was compared to an infamous serial killer known only as the Zodiac Killer.The conspiracy grew enough attention that Cruz's wife even replied to the comments, and of course she denied the claim.And while it's silly to assume Cruz, who was born in 1970, is a serial killer who has murders attributed to them going back as far as the late 1960s, the Zodiac Killer is one of those mysteries that keeps people wondering.Perhaps it's because, to this day, it's still unexplained.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/1a9fffab-7377-4d69-810a-621c1557c2ba Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/09 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In 2002, Steven Spielberg started filming the life of Frank Abagnale. Fortunately it only took about four months of filming for Spielberg to get the shots he needed. On Christmas Day of 2002, Spielberg's DreamWorks released Catch Me If You Can. The movie, which was directed by Spielberg himself, starred a young Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale along with other Hollywood stars such as Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen. The film was a box office hit as it raked in over $160 million dollars.Frank Abagnale himself gave the film that was based on his life story some high praise -- but he was quick to point out there were plenty of inaccuracies. According to Frank, "it's important to understand that it is just a movie…not a biographical documentary."So who was Frank Abagnale? And what is the true story of one of the world's most prolific con artists?Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/09fb95b7-4603-4cf4-b398-921e39c22d6c Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/08 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tom Clancy is known for his captivating military stories with stunningly accurate technical details. Clancy's career started with a fascinating novel: The Hunt for Red October.The Hunt for Red October is based on the true story of a brilliant young political officer by the name of Valery Sablin. While Clancy was praised by military officers for its technical accuracy, as it turns out the story of Valery Sablin differs pretty significantly from Hollywood's version.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/fe5e3e62-edcc-4c09-a276-b7aabfcc3e06 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/07 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Next Friday, on June 24th, director Gary Ross, the three-time Academy Award nominated writer and director behind Seabiscuit, The Hunger Games and Pleasantville, has taken his place behind the camera once again in a movie he's written.This time Ross takes his talents back in time to tell the true true story of a farmer in Mississippi named Newton Knight. But how much of Free State of Jones is truth? Get to know the true story before you see the movie.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/845488dd-0253-4ebd-bbf6-f5b30b89475e Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/06 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This year, Zack Snyder directed the epic Batman v Superman superhero movie, but it wasn't his first foray into comics. In fact, that came in 2006 when he directed the epic retelling of Frank Miller's popular comic book, 300. The movie with the same name was a smash hit and became an instant classic as it told the story of the hero King Leonidas and his small band of 300 Spartans against an insurmountable horde of enemies. But we all know Synder's interpretation was based on Miller's comic, so how much of it was actually true?Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/8543948a-fc86-4e64-bb31-3b19000b9dbb Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/05 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Eight years ago, in 2008, Ron Howard directed the Oscar-nominated retelling of what are still the most popular political interviews to ever air on national TV. Frost/Nixon tells the story of 12 interviews performed by British talk-show host David Frost with the former President Nixon. The interviews were performed three years after Nixon had made history by becoming the first United States president -- and only president -- to ever resign from office. Then, in the interviews, Nixon did something else a president never does -- admit guilt on national TV.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/d7f34754-d090-4b2f-b716-6ade89580728 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/04 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Kiera Knightley starred in 2014's The Imitation Game. Set in the midst of World War II, The Imitation Game tells the story of British mathematician Alan Turing and his quest to conquer the German Enigma code. While the movie did a great job relaying what it did, there's more to the story of Turing's amazing life and its incredibly sad end.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/062d83e9-20ac-44f0-aed3-b149aa290c3f Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/03 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On April 15th, Major League Baseball celebrates Jackie Robinson Day, in honor of the man who broke down racial barriers by becoming the first black player in the MLB. A few years ago, a movie named after Jackie's jersey number -- 42 -- was released to an extremely positive critical response.How much of the story was true and what was missing from the movie? We'll find out in this week's episode about the movie 42.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/dc9e54b6-946f-4af4-9d35-b3d40a0b40c4 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/02 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When a movie says it's based on a true story, how much of that is actually real? In our first episode we'll look at the true story behind 2015's blockbuster hit The Revenant.Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/2d02f0c8-2b9e-4b34-ac3d-3b18b8c43db8 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/01 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by supporting the show: https://links.boatspodcast.com/support Leave a voicemail: https://links.boatspodcast.com/call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.